According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “scop” is an Old English word for “poet or minstrel.” In short, they’re storytellers. The term is most famously found in the epic of Beowulf and makes a minor appearance in Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes. You can learn more information about the word and its origins here.

FROM BREWER'S DICTIONARY: Eyes out on the stalks - Eyes figuratively or even actually protruding through inquisitiveness, amazement, fear, lust or other strong emotion or reaction. The allusion is to the eyes of a snail, which are at the end of retractable stalks and suggest alertness, The phrase dates from the 1930s.